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Apart from say and tell, there are other verbs that can introduce sentences in reported
speech. Let's see an example:
Bart said: "I won't do it again, dad".
This sentence can be reported as:
1. Bart told his dad that he wouldn't do it again.
2. Bart promised his dad not to do it again.
Both reported speech sentences are correct, but the second one is better because the
verb "promise" tells us a lot about the intention of the speaker, whereas "tell" is more
neutral.
Prepositions are always followed by nouns or gerunds, so it's easy to remember that
these verbs with prepositions will be followed by the -ing form. Note that you can have
an object either between verb and preposition or right after the preposition.
This structure is more formal, so it is more commonly used in written English. The verb
in the subordinate clause is in the subjunctive, but in British English it is more usual to
use should and the infinitive instead of the subjunctive. Examples: